<DIV><p>"Monica Hand's <I>me and Nina</I> is a beautiful book by a soul survivor. In these poems she sings deep songs of violated intimacy and the hard work of repair. The poems are unsentimental, blood-red, and positively true, note for note, like the singing of Nina Simone herself. Hand has written a moving, deeply satisfying, and unforgettable book."?Elizabeth Alexander</p><p>In an intimate conversation with the "High Priestess of Soul," Monica A. Hand surveys the places and moods of alienation through poems that are as musical and stylistically diverse as Nina Simone's work. Hand readily embraces a "mass hypnosis" style, putting "a spell on [us]" with her intensely passionate cries and commitment to embracing both tragedy and exuberance in these insightful poems.</p><p><B>From "Dear Nina":</B></p><p><I>I am not recession<BR>depression<BR>oppression<BR>compression<BR>crooked line<BR>broken line<BR>polka dot<BR>parking lot<BR>or spot</I></p><p><I>I am a </I>Gift from God<BR><I>I know that</I></p><p><I>I am an</I></p><p><I>un-kept<BR>solo song</I></p><p><B>Monica A. Hand</B> is a poet and book artist currently living in Harlem, New York. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in <I>Aunt Chloe</I>, <I>Black Renaissance Noire</I>, <I>The Sow's Ear</I>, <I>Drunken Boat</I>, <I>Beyond the Frontier</I>, <I>African-American Poetry for the 21st Century</I>, <I>Gathering Ground: A Reader Celebrating Cave Canem's First Decade</I>, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in poetry and poetry in translation from Drew University and is a founding member of Poets for Ayiti.</p></DIV>